After All This Time
by Anjirika
Summary: --Setting right what was once set wrong so long ago. Two people are thinking about each other and thanks to external sources twelve years suddenly vanish-- My first Tommy/Kim fic. Please Read and Review!
1. Missing You

_A/N- First serious Power Ranger fic ever so please be kind and leave a review. _

**After All This Time**

**Chapter 1: Missing You**

Tommy thought that life would get back to normal- but it couldn't and it never did. 'Once a Ranger always a ranger...' he thought wistfully to himself as he watched the archives of the early ranger days. It had been four years since his Black Dino Powers had been completely drained by defeating Mesasog but he still hadn't gotten over the loss yet. 'Once a ranger always a ranger...' he repeated silently to himself as his gaze was drawn back to the screen.

'_They said back at the gym that I'd find you here.'_

"What?" he muttered out loud as he watched the images on the screen. "What is that doing here? It has nothing about being a ranger..."

'_Yeah.'_ replied a much younger version of himself. '_Sometimes I like to practice outside sometimes you know, smell the fresh air.' _

_'How are you doing?_'

'She seemed so concerned...' Tommy thought to himself as he saw the concern on Kimberly's face. '...at the time...'

'_I'm hanging, I've been working on my karate, focusing on my school work, just trying to keep busy you know'_

_'We miss you.'_ She had said, but there had been something else behind her eyes.

_'Yeah- but you guys were a team long before I showed up...it'll be back to normal before long.' _

_'I miss you ' _Kimberly had said and Tommy watched as the younger version of himself had taken her hand, looked into her eyes and leaned in for a kiss. Even after all this time, all he had been through that memory brought back all the same feelings that he had had as a teenager.

'She missed me after only a couple of weeks,' Tommy thought to himself as he paused the archive recording. 'I wonder if she has missed me after all this time...' Just then his phone rang and Tommy nearly jumped out of his seat.

"I wonder who that could be..." he muttered to himself as he picked it up. "Hello?"

"Tommy?"

He knew that voice. He would always know that voice. "Kim?"

There was silence.

"Kim?" he repeated, suddenly frantic that she wouldn't answer. "You there."

"Yea, I'm here." she replied sounding as nervous as he felt. "I uh- was just surprised that you didn't hang up on me."

"It's been twelve years since we broke up-" Tommy muttered darkly. "Do you really think I'd be holding a grudge for all this time..."

Again there was silence.

"Kim?"

"I'm here." she replied her voice wavering as though she was crying. "I'm here."

"You okay?" he asked suddenly concerned.

"Yeah," Kim answered. "Listen, I uh- was just calling because I was going through my old boxes yesterday and I came across some of your things and well...I haven't been able to stop thinking about you since."

"Oh- so you haven't thought about me in the past twelve years?"

Silence was all that met him.

"Kim?" he asked as a part of him berated his mouth for speaking without thinking. Even after all this time- it was clear that Tommy was still angry. "Kim I'm sorry."

"I know," she answered finally in a quiet voice. "And so am I- but apologies never work over the phone. I heard from the gang that you're in Reefside now and seeing how that's only a few hours from Angel Grove I figured that I could drive up and-"

"No." he interrupted. "No if we're going to talk about things then it should be at the lake."

"At our spot?" she asked quietly and Tommy inwardly flinched.

"Yeah." he answered. "I think that would be best."

-Tommy/Kim-

Two days later Tommy was sitting quietly at the spot where he had first asked her out. 'That seems like so long ago,' he thought to himself as he recounted his face in the archive record. 'It is possible that I still have the same feelings even after all these years?'

-Tommy/Kim-

"There he is Trini," Kim whispered as she watched Tommy from behind a tree. "I can't believe I let you talk me into calling him and getting him here."

"It's been twelve years," Trini pointed out. "Twelve years and neither of you have found anyone else. He needs to know what happened back then, he needs to hear your reasoning and you have to know why he never came after you- why he never fought for you after he had fought for you for so long-"

"I don't think I want to know," Kim muttered as she leaned against the tree her face away from Tommy. "I mean honestly if I couldn't face him after Divatox..."

Trini just shook her head. "Honestly girl- I talked to Jason after the competition and he told me that Kat had told him that Tommy's face had paled when he saw that you were in trouble. And you yourself said that you thought that you had seen something in his eyes when he was trying to talk to you while you were evil."

Kim nodded. "Yeah- but that was another lifetime."

"You haven't died Kim," Trini reasoned. "It's the same lifetime."

"You know what I mean."

"And you know what I mean," Trini countered. "Now go over there..."

-Tommy/Kim-

"Tommy?"

"Kim?" he asked as he stood up.

"Hey..." she replied with a small smile as she kept a respectful distance from the one and only love of her life. "You-"

But her sentence was cut off- Tommy spontaneously pulled her into a hug and Kim didn't push away. She just wrapped her arms around him as she had done many, many times in another lifetime. She buried her head in the crook of his shoulder and she could feel his hands get tangled within her hair. 'I've missed this...' she thought to herself.

"I've missed you." Tommy replied, whispering in her ear and echoing her thoughts.

Kim nodded and pulled out of the hug reluctantly. "I've missed you too...uh, we-"

"We have a lot to talk about..."

"Yeah," she nodded. "We do."

-Tommy/Kim-

"So do you think this will work?" Trini turned to face her husband of five years and nodded.

"I hope for her sake that it does." Jason Scott answered and they both turned their eyes back to the pair. "And his come to think about it." he continued. "I mean neither of them have been the same since..."


	2. Old Haunts

**After All This Time**

**Chapter 2: Old Haunts**

"So let me get this straight..." Tommy began as he and Kim sat down on the small stone. "There was never another guy?"

Weakly, Kim nodded. "Yeah."

"So, why'd you send it?"

"I was alone and confused," Kim answered sadly. "You had your own life and I was living my dream- but it wasn't all that it cracked up to be and I dunno- I heard from Billy that you and Kat were really hitting it off and even though I wanted to come back I felt that I couldn't and I felt as though I was holding you back by keeping you..." she explained all her words coming out in a rush. "...so I wrote the letter thinking that if I couldn't come back and I couldn't be with you then I couldn't ruin your life. And I dunno- a part of me was hoping that you'd come after me. Honestly I thought that you would. I thought that you would teleport over and tell me that you couldn't let me go...but you never came."

"I was hurt." Tommy answered finally. "No- I was destroyed. The way that you had phrased that letter Kim I thought-"

"I know what you thought..." she interrupted standing up abruptly. "...and I was an idiot for thinking that you would actually come and-"

"Hey now," he interrupted. "I thought that I was doing what you wanted. Staying away seemed like the best thing to do at the time I mean honestly when you right someone a 'Dear John' letter usually it's for real. You can't blame me for not being a mind reader."

"I know- but I thought you would never let me go." Kim stated quietly. "I thought that you loved me...I thought that you would always love me. I guess I was wrong."

"Who said that you were wrong?" Tommy asked as he stood up to stand behind Kim. "I mean I'm single aren't I? Aren't you?"

"Well yeah..."

"So what does that tell you?"

"I dunno." Kim answered turning to face him. "What does that tell me?"

-Tommy/Kim-

"Look how close they're standing together Jase."

"I know..." he replied. "Just a little close and they'll be kissing."

Trini sighed. "I hope this works." she stated. "I really do. I don't think that I can handle them ignoring each other any longer..."

"I know," Jason agreed. "They have to work this out. I mean as it stood we eloped just to avoid that conflict...I don't want them ruining our actual wedding..."

Trini smiled. "I still can't believe after five years we're finally going to have a real wedding."

"I know." Jason agreed. "And I want Tommy to be my best man."

"And Kim will be my maid of honour," Trini stated.

"Which is why they need to work this out..."

-Tommy/Kim-

"I don't know," replied Kim. "What does that tell me?"

"You know what it tells you."

"I may know," Kim stated. "But I need to hear it."

"I means that I never got over you."

He had said it- it was out in the open but Kim didn't seem convinced.

"You went out on that date just after I-"

"Rebound Kim." Tommy defended. "She was a rebound, and she was like you..."

"And Kat?"

Tommy shrugged guiltily. "I only- my feelings for Kat... they were all colour based."

"What?"

"When she was morphed I thought that I was fighting along side you," Tommy explained. "It was like I had a little piece of you there right with me...and when I got the letter even though we had different powers I still thought of you fighting there with me and I- I just transferred my feelings from you onto Kat. But it was never the same... and she knew it. Which is why we broke up shortly after handing over our powers."

"That must have been hard." Kim muttered. "I mean I know what it's like-"

"And so do I." Tommy retorted. "I've lost the power three times now but don't change the subject... I never got over you Kim- not even now...I mean I was so in love with you when we were in High School."

"And now?" Kim asked, a measure of hope in her voice.

"Now..." Tommy began with a shrug. "...a part of me is still in love with you still."

That caused Kim's heart to skip a beat. "Really?" she asked. "Do you mean it?"

"Have I ever said something that I didn't mean?" Tommy asked. "And not when I've been under an evil spell or something..."

Kim chuckled. "No," she replied. "You always speak your mind..."

"So..."

"So..." she began. "I think that I've- well..."

"Kim?"

Kim sighed. "I never stopped loving you either." she stated as she looked Tommy in the eye. "Never. I kept out for every little bit of news for you and believe me- when you were in the news after the whole Principle Randall thing I put two and two together and realized that you were fighting again...and I was scared and a little jealous."

"Jealous?"

"The power had chosen you- again..." she replied. "I gave up my power to chase what I thought my dream was when really my dreams were all right here in Angel Grove...with you..." she sighed and sank back down to the ground. "How can you ever forgive me when I don't even forgive myself."

Tommy sighed and sat down beside the girl that he had never stopped loving. She had hardly changed since he last saw her. Her hair was the same length- but layered instead of all one length and she was still wearing pink. 'A remnant of her powers from so long ago...'

"So.." Kim began again sadly. "Do you forgive me?"

Tommy nodded and put a comforting arm around her. "Yeah," he replied. "I do- can you forgive me?"

"For what?"

"For not coming after you," he explained. "For not fighting for the one thing that was most important to me. If I had come to Florida then and there- who knows where we might be now..."

"Married with two kids probably." Kim answered. "But it'll never happen."

Tommy laughed. "Who says so?"

"I say so." Kim countered. "I've screwed up royally."

"Just because we screwed up doesn't mean that we can't have everything that we thought we would have when we were younger."

Again, Kim was caught off guard. "What are you saying Tommy?" she asked her heart racing. "Are you saying that we could- now?"

He shook his head. "No of course not now," Tommy began as he took her hand lovingly. "But honestly, can you see yourself with anyone else? I know I can't. I'm still in love with you..."


	3. Truths be Told

**After All This Time**

**Chapter 3: Truths Be Told**

"I'm still in love with you," Tommy repeated, turning Kim's face to look at him. "And you're still in love with me so..."

"So?"

"So I failed you when you needed me most, but maybe I can make up for it."

"What- what are you saying exactly?" asked Kimberly.

"I'm saying that we start over again," Tommy began. "Slowly, from the beginning."

Kim shook her head causing Tommy's heart to lurch. Here he was trying to patch things up and she was turning him down.

"What-?"

"I don't think that I can take things slow," she answered with a small smile on her face. "I mean we've wasted so much time."

The she surprised him- Kimberly leaned forward and kissed him and Tommy to his surprise kissed her back. And it was as though nothing had changed. They were still Power Rangers fighting against Rita and Zedd but most of all they were just two teenagers who were in love.

-Tommy/Kim-

"Look at that!" Trini squealed as she hung onto her husband's arms. "I knew it!"

Jason smiled. "I knew that they would get their act together sooner or later."

"We thought," she corrected with a smile. "Or rather we knew..."

"Yeah we knew alright-" Jason agreed. "I just wish that we knew how long it would take 'em."

Trini laughed. "Good things come to those who wait."

"Yeah," Jason agreed. "But no one should wait twelve freaking years..."

Trini shrugged. "Maybe what they needed was to grow up, maybe they needed to be apart for so long to really understand that what they had together was special... either way, it looks like they're together now."

"Yeah," Jason agreed. "Looks like."

-Tommy/Kim-

"Wow..." Tommy replied as he pulled out of the kiss. "I've wanted to do that for a long time."

"Yeah," Kim replied with a girlish giggle as she brushed a piece of her brown hair out of her eye. "Me too."

It was then that deja vu struck them. "Wow," Tommy repeated. "Do you remember-"

"The first time that you asked me out?" Kim asked her face shining. "Sure I do- it was right here. Seems appropriate."

"Appropriate? How?" Tommy asked as he wrapped his arm around her.

"We should have our new beginning where it all started," she stated as she looked into his eyes. "We need to start a new life on the old foundations-"

"Sans some bad memories..."

Kim shook her head. "The bad memories and the mistakes make us learn."

"Okay then," Tommy replied as he stood up. "To new beginnings-"

"And continuations," Kim answered as she took the hand that was offered to her. "I can't believe it-"

"Shh Beautiful," Tommy whispered as he kissed her again. "Believe it...after all this time we've finally set things right."

"Promise me that you'll never let me go again."

"Planning on going somewhere?"

Kim shook her head. "No- but still."

"You're mine Beautiful," Tommy assured as he kissed her passionately. "And that's the truth..."

* * *

A/N- And so beloved readers that's the end of a little multi-chapter story which I really needed to write. Thank you to all of you for the wonderful reviews- nikkitan89, cofcgirl, redlighting, jps1926, hansongirl14, psa2005, TommyOliverMMPRfan and dear Rejhan--all you're reviews have made me smile and I can't wait to read your reactions to this chapter.

Anyhoo- for a first attempt this isn't half bad---who knows, I might have more wonderful Power Ranger goodness in the bag but I make no promises 'cause I've got no ideas...

Till next time though.

-Anjirika a Tommy/Kim fan for life.


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